“Dear God, please give me wisdom…”
Sound familiar? I don’t know about you, but this is probably the prayer I lift more than any other. We desperately need wisdom in virtually every aspect of life, don’t we? In our relationships. In our finances. In life’s decisions. Certainly in our marriages. In our places of employment. I could go on and on…
Does the whole idea of “wisdom” seem sort of ambiguous? It often seems that just when I think I may have grasped it, I look down at my clutched hands to find them empty.
How do we know if we’ve attained wisdom? At what point do we become wise? What does it look like?
God is so good to give us His counsel about this topic. The Bible, after all, is full of descriptions of what it means to be wise. So it seems to me that it’s a very good idea to combine our prayers for wisdom with a study of what God has to say about the subject. Let’s get started praying the Scriptures for your friend to have wisdom, shall we?
Prayers for Wisdom
- Thank God for His gracious promise to give wisdom generously to those who lack it. Claim that promise for your friend by asking Him for it on their behalf, in faith (James 1:5).
- Acknowledge to God that fools always think their way is right, but a wise person listens to advice (Proverbs 12:15). Ask the Lord to help your friend to be humble and teachable, willing to ask for counsel and receive it from others.
- Pray that your friend would grow in wisdom as God defines it, and that they would humbly and wisely do good works. Ask Him to keep your friend from bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in their heart, and also from boasting and deceit, as those attributes are not characteristics of godly wisdom. Implore God to fill your friend with the wisdom from above – wisdom that is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere (James 3:13-17).
- Confess to God your friend’s responsibility to pay careful attention to how they walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Ask for His grace to keep your friend from foolishness, and to enable them to understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:15-17).
- Ask God to help your friend restrain their words and keep a cool spirit, as those are evidences of wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 17:27-28).
- Pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give your friend a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of their heart enlightened, that they may know the hope to which He has called them, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of His power toward them, according to the working of His great might (Ephesians 1:16-19).
- Ask the Lord to keep your friend from being deceived about true wisdom, because the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God (I Corinthians 3:18-19).
- Pray that your friend would seek wisdom above every earthly possession. Ask Him to give them a passion for it, and a willingness to search for it as for hidden treasures. Praise Him for giving wisdom, and for pouring knowledge and understanding from His mouth. Ask Him to give your friend the wisdom He has stored for the upright, as well as insight about righteousness, justice, equity, and every good path. Pray that wisdom would come into their heart, and that knowledge would be pleasant to their soul, with discretion and understanding watching over them. Acknowledge to the Lord that wisdom will deliver your friend from evil, protect them from temptation, and help them stay on the path of the righteous (Proverbs 2).
Dear Heavenly Father, I praise You for Your infinite wisdom that is abundantly evident in all that You do. You are the essence of wisdom, and the source of it. Whereas You are abounding in wisdom, we are lacking. Please help my friend and I to grow in wisdom as we increase in our knowledge and fear of You. By Your Spirit, please increase our depth of insight as we study Your Word. Hold us back from leaning on our own understanding, and make us willing to be counted foolish by the world, for then we will have begun to display godly wisdom. It’s in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that I pray. Amen.
Amen! Have you noticed that so many of these prayers for our friends are ones that we ourselves can also benefit from? There’s more in store tomorrow – we’ll be praying for our friends to develop self-control. See you then!
Click here to navigate to the main page and find Day 13 of the challenge.
